Day 7

You might have called yesterday an epiphany. But I should have known, I should have known, damn it, I should have known!

All was ready for the ‘royal’ visit.  Coffee, sandwiches, a clean toilet. Still, I’d found the need to pour myself a little liquid courage.  

Expecting the ringing doorbell to announce Agent Catfish and Edith’s arrival , I opened the door with some trepidation.

“Miss Harmon?” I asked, incredulous. I was certainly not expecting her at my doorstep.

“Hope you don’t mind, Admiral,” she said apologetically. “I thought you could use, well, a friend at a time like this. I know your sister is coming today and that you’re both a bit...estranged and I happened to have a little time between flights.”

“How did you know that? Never mind, please, please, come in,” I said, resisting the urge to hug  her in sheer relief. Misery does love company.

“Oh, it was just a little girl talk,” she said sweetly as she sat down on the lumpy sofa. ( I’d just purchased it from Army Surplus a few days before. While I might have to be hospitable to my scheduled guests, they could at least be as uncomfortable as me.) Now, however I was embarrassed that Miss Harmon would be an unintended victim.

“A bit early for libations, isn’t it?” she asked gently, checking her watch, “I’m afraid I get the time zones so mixed up.”

“Actually, it is a bit early,” I sat the amber shot glass down. “Coffee? Sandwiches?”

“That would be very nice, Admiral. Er...I suppose you’ve heard the latest about Seaview? That they’ve lost all communications? Ah, I can see you haven’t.  Admiral...I....”she hesitated.

But the doorbell chose just that moment to ring, so whatever she had to say would have to wait.

“Well, aren’t you going to invite us in?” Edith demanded, brushing past. ‘Betty? What brings you here?”

“Harriman,” Agent Catfish followed Edith in, “I suppose you’ve heard...”

“Excuse me,” I managed, my head in a whirl from the latest news, “ I need to make  a phone call...tour boat or not, only the Navy can do a search and rescue for a submarine…”

“That won’t be necessary,” Agent Catfish said and sat down next to Edith and Betty. “I’m sure they have things well in hand.”

I was about to interrupt with a sharp retort that I knew Seaview’s special signature better than any boat driver (except maybe Lee) when the doorbell rang again.

“Busy place,” Agent Catfish said as I opened the door.

“Surprise!” Sharkey was holding a large gaily wrapped box, with a bow on it. “Oh, excuse me. Agent Catfish, Miss Edith. Miss Harmon? What are you doing here. Er. I mean…”

“Never mind Francis,” I said, “How did things go? Any word on the White House staffer?”

“Nah, and I even had them double check. They ain’t never heard of no Pieux Mensonge.”

“ That’s because it isn’t a person,” Agent Catfish sighed. “It’s French. It  means ‘White Lie’.”

“WHAT?” I  shouted.

“You’d better sit down,” Agent Catfish continued as I took a seat in the equally lumpy chair I’d also purchased. Sharkey stood right behind me, a little too protectively, I thought, while she continued. “The Seaview is an integral part of, well, let’s just say, a very top level operation. Edith didn’t and still doesn’t know the details. Even I don't know much. Only that the government requested she ‘sell’ Seaview to Schwarz & Schwarz Tours. A matter of national security, and warned  her not to tell anyone about it, especially you. She cried for days.

“I…don’t know what to say,” I looked at Edith with guilt.

“It’s okay Harry,” she said. “We Nelson’s always do our patriotic duty. What really hurt was when I got that horrible letter of yours…”

“Oh sweetie,” I rose and pulled her to her feet, embracing her,  “I can’t apologize enough. I should have known. I just should have known. Please forgive me.”

“That’s not all Harriman,” Agent Catfish said. “Betty?”

“Well, as you  know I was at the launch, but my plans changed.”

“Yes, something about your cat,” I was trying, the operative word here, ‘trying’,  to recover my composure.

“The ‘cat’ was me actually, ” Agent Catfish said.

“Edith was taking pictures and I joined her,” Miss Harmon continued.

“It was all part of the ‘show’ for me to look like a happy entrepreneur,” Edith said. “And then…”

“We saw something,” Miss Harmon interrupted.

“But we couldn’t say anything,” Edith interrupted my whirling thoughts, “Not to anyone.”

“I didn’t know what was going on,” Miss Harmon said, “ but I knew it was something awfully important.”

“We decided then,” Edith said, “ that perhaps, since we couldn’t say anything, perhaps we could show you.”

“They asked me first though,” Agent Catfish said. “As long as there weren’t any words, verbal or written, I felt it would be okay. Go ahead and show him, Edith.”

She retrieved a small pack of photos and  put one in particular on top and handed them to me.

“It’s the Skipper!” Sharkey exclaimed.

I think I fainted.

“Lee, Lee, Lee,” I was mumbling as I came to, “…are you sure? Are you sure it’s him? Not just a look alike? There are a few of them around you know.”

“It’s possible the man’s only  a  lookalike,” Agent Catfish said of the bearded man in the  Seaview’s maintenance scrubs. “ But,” she continued, “ like the old saying goes, if it looks like a mouse, and acts like a mouse, it probably is a mouse. And with that memo’s signature, apparently, well...”

“We wanted so desperately for you to know that Lee might not really be dead,” Edith sobbed on my shoulder, “you were hurting so badly, Harry.”

“There’s something else,” Agent Catfish said, “after the explosion, Admiral Cartwright gave me something to  hold on to. He didn’t say anything but for me not to give it to you until the ‘time was right’. I didn’t know it then, but I think that time is now,” she pulled out Lee’s ring and handed it to me, “for when he comes home.”

 “He’s just off on ‘one of those’, Sharkey was practically dancing around. “He’s alive, he’s alive. Oh Lord in Heaven, he’s alive! Hey! Let’s have a party! Admiral, there ain’t gonna’ be a better time! C’mon,” he dragged me to the present.

“Did I miss your birthday? ”Miss Harmon asked.

“No ma’am, but it sure as hell is time for a celebration,” he said as he helped me unwrap the present.

“It...it’s an EZ Bake oven?” Agent Catfish raised an eyebrow.

It was Edith’s turn next, followed by Miss Harmon.

“It’s a long story,” I said, partly embarrassed, part flattered by Sharkey’s generosity. “Why don’t you help him wash the unit’s utensils and pick out a mix. Cookies, brownies, your choice. I have to make a phone call before I put on an apron.”

“You won’t mention anything we said, though, right, Harriman?” Agent Catfish said.

“No, just going to see if the Navy sent the Gator out to tail the Seaview on purpose, among other things.”

“Be careful what you say. I wouldn’t want you or my good friends Edith and Betty to get into trouble.”

“I’ll be as good as  a choir boy.”

“Uh,sir?” Sharkey winced, “I was a choir boy and I wasn’t ever good.”

I laughed as I headed to my bedroom to make that call to Chip. I didn’t know what I was going to say. As it turned out  he wasn’t available. Neither was Cmdr. Jackson, Adm. Cartwright, or even the President. I returned, somewhat deflated, but perked up as I heard the girls laughing with Sharkey as he told them about all the fun I’d had with Jiggs Starke over a very older model of the EZ Bake Oven, fried electronics and all.

In time we made cookies, brownies, and even cupcakes. And they were good. But most of all, we were secure in the knowledge that while Lee might be in harm’s way, at least, we hoped it was Lee, that he was alive.

What ONI or the Joint Chiefs will have to ‘invent’ about this, once Lee’s mission is accomplished (I have no doubt that it will be), is anyone’s guess. As for the mission, there are several scenarios we discussed, but couldn’t agree on, and after all, it’s a top secret mission, so we really shouldn’t be discussing the possibilities at all, and  I sure as hell shouldn’t be recording it this journal!

I know. I’ll ask the instructor how to ‘privatize’ this and the rest of my journal, (so nobody can see it until the entire affair’s over and it’s declassified.)

What tomorrow will bring is anyone’s guess. All I know is that for the first time since that terrible day of the explosion, I can smile again. Really smile. Though it’s a bit difficult with a mouth full of cookies!

Harriman.